These Football Times

Didier Drogba has joined Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in swapping a European superclub for MLS. That transition seems natural and sensible now but it’s easy to forget that David Beckham was mocked for leaving Europe in 2007

Michael O’Neill suffered a 3-0 drubbing at home to Norway in his first match in charge of a Northern Ireland team that was devoid of confidence. They are now a few results away from qualifying for their first ever European Championship

Andrea Pirlo will be 36 years old by the time the Champions League final is played in June. He could be directing proceedings that night from the base of midfield, a position that is increasingly in vogue for football’s elder statesmen

Lazio had not been league champions since 1974 but a team containing Diego Simeone, Roberto Mancini, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Attilio Lombardo and Juan Sebastián Verón ensured that they won the Serie A title in their centenary year

The view that there are ‘too many foreigners’ playing for Italy is not a new one. The country won their first World Cup with four players born in Argentina and they have been debating nationality, immigration and racism for a century

When Florentino Pérez became Real Madrid president he said the club would combine ‘Zidanes y Pavones’, expensive signings and homegrown players. The club is still obsessed with transfer records but where are the young local players?

Sharing a surname with the best player of his generation meant that Dino Baggio was forever living in someone else’s shadow, but the former Torino, Juventus and Parma midfielder deserves to remembered as one of Italian football’s greats

After an unsuccessful spell managing Preston North End, Bobby Charlton signed for Waterford United in 1976. He was 39 years old at the time, but Charlton still had the stamina and ability to dominate matches from midfield

The Republic of Ireland teams that went to the World Cup finals in 1990, 1994 and 2002 were full of Premier League players. Where have the great Irish footballers gone and when will the country produce another generation of stars?